Chapter 8 - THE LAST NAME ON ISABELLA'S LIST
Victor survived.
Barely.
Federal divers pulled him from the Chicago River with a bullet through his shoulder.
Dante considered that appropriate.
Death would have been quick.
Prison would require Victor to wake up every morning knowing the Moretti empire he wanted had rejected him.
But Elena's revelation poisoned any sense of victory.
"Who ordered the bomb?"
They sat inside Dante's study shortly before dawn.
Elena looked exhausted.
Sarah sat across from her.
Toby remained close to his sister, unwilling to trust the mother who had returned from the dead.
Mia and Bella were asleep upstairs.
For once, peacefully.
Elena looked at Dante.
"Your father."
Dante almost laughed.
"My father died five years before Isabella."
"That's what you were told."
The room went silent.
Arthur sat down heavily.
"No."
Elena looked at him.
"You never saw his body."
Arthur's face changed.
Dante remembered the closed casket.
The private funeral.
The physician who had signed the certificate had worked for the family.
"My father is alive?"
Elena nodded.
"Salvatore Moretti has been living in Argentina for eight years."
Dante stood so quickly his chair overturned.
"Why?"
"He knew federal investigators were closing in. Victor staged his death."
"And Isabella discovered it."
"Yes."
Elena looked toward the wedding ring.
"That evidence proves Salvatore continued controlling Moretti operations through Victor."
Sarah understood.
"Isabella threatened to expose him."
"She threatened more than that."
Elena's eyes moved to Dante.
"She convinced Gabriel to testify."
Sarah stopped.
"My father?"
Elena nodded.
Dante stared.
"You said Gabriel died when Sarah was two."
"He did."
"Salvatore killed him."
Elena's voice broke.
"He ordered it."
Sarah closed her eyes.
Another piece of her childhood became a lie.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I thought ignorance would keep you alive."
"It didn't keep Toby safe."
"No."
Elena looked at both her children.
"And I will spend whatever life I have left knowing that."
Sarah wasn't ready to forgive her.
But she believed the regret.
Dante walked to the window.
"My father killed my brother."
"Yes."
"And Isabella."
"Yes."
"Why is he coming after my daughters now?"
"Because Isabella's evidence can connect him to murders, trafficking, bribery and offshore accounts. But the twins are also witnesses."
"They were babies."
"Salvatore doesn't care."
Dante turned.
"Then we find him first."
He didn't need to.
Salvatore came to them.
At noon, a package arrived.
Inside was a photograph of Dante leaving Pier Seventeen.
Another showed Sarah embracing Elena.
A third showed Mia and Bella in the penthouse garden that morning.
Dante stared at it.
Impossible.
Security had been doubled.
Nobody outside the estate could have taken that photograph.
On the back:
FAMILY SHOULD SETTLE FAMILY BUSINESS FACE TO FACE.
A telephone number followed.
Dante called.
An old voice answered.
"Son."
Dante's face went blank.
Sarah watched him become a child for half a second.
Then the wall returned.
"Father."
"I hear you've been busy."
"You murdered Isabella."
"I protected what generations of our family built."
"She was your daughter-in-law."
"She was a liability."
Dante gripped the phone.
Sarah placed her hand over his fist.
He looked at her.
Slowly, his fingers relaxed.
Salvatore continued.
"You always were weak where women were concerned."
Dante's eyes remained on Sarah.
"No. I was weak when I believed men like you were strong."
Silence.
Then Salvatore laughed.
"Bring me the ring."
"No."
"Then I'll take one of the girls."
Dante's blood chilled.
"They're surrounded by guards."
"Are they?"
A scream came from upstairs.
Dante ran.
Sarah followed.
The nursery was empty.
The balcony door stood open.
A rope hung over the edge.
"No."
Dante reached the balcony.
Three floors below, a man ran across the garden carrying Bella.
Mia was nowhere visible.
Dante vaulted the railing onto the lower terrace.
Sarah screamed his name.
He landed hard and kept running.
Guards converged.
The kidnapper reached a van.
Before he could open it, the rear door burst outward.
Mia jumped out.
She bit the man's hand.
He screamed.
Bella fell.
Dante caught her before she hit the pavement.
Security tackled the man.
Sarah reached them seconds later.
She grabbed both children.
Mia was crying.
"I followed him."
Dante stared at her.
"You what?"
"He took Bella."
"Mia, you never follow a bad man."
"But Bella needed me."
Dante dropped to his knees.
For three years he had believed his daughters were broken.
Looking at Mia now, he understood how wrong he had been.
They were survivors.
Just like their mother.
He hugged both girls.
Mia stiffened at first.
Then her arms slowly went around his neck.
Dante closed his eyes.
It was the first time she had willingly hugged him since Isabella died.
Sarah looked away, suddenly emotional.
Later, security identified the kidnapper.
A former employee.
He had been dismissed six months earlier.
Salvatore had recruited him before that.
The breach was closed.
But Dante understood walls weren't enough.
That evening, he found Sarah alone on the balcony.
"You saved them," he said.
She shook her head.
"They saved each other."
Dante stood beside her.
"You saved me."
Sarah looked at him.
"That's dramatic."
"I'm Italian."
She laughed.
It surprised both of them.
Then silence settled.
Dante looked toward the skyline.
"I don't remember the last time this house sounded normal."
"Normal?"
"You laughed."
Sarah smiled.
"Careful. I'll ruin your reputation."
He looked at her.
Something had changed between them.
Sarah felt it too.
But before either could speak, Arthur entered.
"Sir."
Dante stepped back.
"What?"
"Federal investigators decoded the microfilm."
"And?"
Arthur handed him a page.
At the bottom was a list of payments.
One recent transaction had been highlighted.
Dante read the recipient.
His face went cold.
Sarah approached.
"What is it?"
He showed her.
The payment was dated three days earlier.
Five million dollars.
Recipient:
ELENA MARINO JENKINS.
Sarah looked toward the guest wing where her mother was sleeping.
"No."
Dante said nothing.
May you like
The memo attached to the payment contained four words.
DELIVERY OF SARAH CONFIRMED.
